Caden, Everett and I created a crossbow. Here is some background information about the crossbow. The crossbow is based off of the bow, consisting of a horizontal bow-like piece mounted on a stock. The crossbow was invented by Mr. Ch'in of Ch'ue Ch'in, in east Asia during the (jo) Zhou dynasty, around the year 700 BCE. We made a more advanced version of the crossbow that was used during the Qin Dynasty which lasted from 221 BCE-207 BCE. This model includes a locking lever, a sear, and a trigger. The crossbow was invented to make the marksman role easier, and making bowmen not need as much experience, strength, and skill. It was the first simple, and cheap projectile launcher, that was still used when guns were invented for its silent firing. The crossbow was an effective weapon that lasted a very long period of time in history. We used a buzz saw to shape the stock of our crossbow, and laser cut the firing mechanisms. For strength, we cut two planks of ply wood and connected them with wood glue and screws. To make our crossbow "pretty" we used an electric sander, dremle tool, and a planer. We attached two trigger mechanisms for more strength, using wood glue. To create the housing for the firing mechanism, we used a drill and a dremle tool. We created the bow using the same technique that we used to make the stock. We proceeded to attach the bow to the stock at an 84* angle so that the string would not pass over the bolt. Instead, the string would hit the bolt as intended. Our first model for the trigger mechanism was called mechanism 1.0. Unlike mechanism 2.0, 1.0 didn't work, of course. The corner piece on the sear was too sharp and did not turn properly. This caused problems when pulling the locking lever down, in other words the string would not get released so it could not fire. I'm going to tell you about the tools we used. We started with a buzz saw. We used it to cut the large pieces of wood. A buzz saw is a handheld electric saw with a round blade that spins at very high speeds. We then used a jigsaw. We used a jigsaw to cut the smaller more precise cuts. A jigsaw is a small handheld saw that is slower but more precise tool that works by having a small toothed blade moving up and down rapidly. In addition to saws we also used a large verity of tools such as a hand planer. We used a hand planer to thin the bow. Thinning the bow added flex to the wood. A hand planer is a small tool with a flat adjustable blade in it. A hand planer works by cutting a thin section of the wood off at a time. This was hard work because using a hand planer involved moving it against the wood repeatedly. The next tool we used was a dremle tool. A dremle tool is a small handheld drill-like device that can have multiple tips for different purposes. Two of the tips that we used were the circular etching tip (for thinning, etching, and smoothing), and a the saw-like cutting tip (which of course was used to cut). These are just some of the tools that we used to create our crossbow.